Did you get flocked on Valentine’s Day? If you live in The Stockade, a tiny historic district in Schenectady, New York, it’s really hard not to get flocked by a flamboyance of pink flamingos on February 14 — and (virtually) no one knows who’s doing the flocking. As described in today’s Schenectady Daily Gazette, fourteen pink flamingos appeared overnight within the small traffic circle monument to Lawrence the Indian, and were gone when the sun set. See “Pink flamingos make annual appearance: Stockade residents have grown fond of Valentine’s Day tradition” (February 15, 2008). Reporter Kathleen Moore explains:

“Welcome to the Stockade’s Valentine’s Day mystery.

“For nearly a decade, someone has decorated Lawrence the Indian with pink flamingos on Feb. 14. Most have no idea who does it or why the day of love is being celebrated with one of the tackiest decorations available in stores today.”

At the Gazette Online website, you’ll find more details and some humorous speculation, but you will not learn the identity of the impish Mohawk-flockers. The only clue is cryptic: “The covert decorators are actually two middle-aged men, who asked for anonymity since they’ve kept their identities a secret for so long.” [Indeed, although he was recently sighted lurking in and around the Stockade with another middle-aged gent, and he has demonstrated a rather warped attitude about Valentine’s Day at his weblog, the mysteriously anonymous Editor of Blawg Review denies planting the pink plastic fowl, but wishes he had thought of it first.] As to their motives, one of the aging delinquent flamingo herders says:

Why make Valentine’s Day into Flamingo Day? We get no satisfactory explanation in the Gazette. However, as a dateless denizen of the Stockade, I can appreciate the reaction of two interviewed Stockadians, when asked by the Gazette reporter:

Newcomer Katy Nestor, who came upon the flamingos on her way to Arthur’s Market, said the birds could be the last resort for the dateless. “If you can, you spend Valentine’s with the ones you love … if you have nobody, come be with the flamingos,” she said. “It’s great. They’re cute.”

Joyce Wachala, co-owner of Arthur’s Market, said the flamingos are particularly welcomed by single residents. “A lot of people down here are single. Valentine’s Day is so hard for people — and this is so nice,” she said. “I think it’s adorable.”

With the subject-matter vacuum left at f/k/a by our no-politics and no-legal-ethics pledge, Your Editor decided to dig deeper into the whole flamingo and pink theme. It seems that getting flocked by pink flamingos is not merely a Schenectady activity, although it has not apparently been associated with Valentine’s Day nor reached the level of “tradition” elsewhere. The folks at Get Flocked.com explain:

“Flocks of Flamingos are a great way to celebrate a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary. Flamingo Flocking is a great way to raise funds for your church, group, or organization. By the pair or by the flock… Flamingos are just fun.”

If money is no object, we sighted a pair of genuine Featherstone flamingos (along with a warning against fake signature versions from China), at Amazon.com for over $100; but another pair of knockoffs for $12.

For the more intellectual and history-oriented flamingo buffs, we suggest the book “The Original Pink Flamingos: Splendor on the Grass” (Schiffer Publishing, 1999, 98 pp., Paperback), which is co-authored by Don Featherstone, the designer of the most famous lawn ornament of our times (with apologies to the Virgin in a Bathtub). The book’s description notes:

“In 1957, Don Featherstone sculptured the first three-dimensional pink plastic flamingo, thereby making affordable bad taste accessible to the American public” –from Pink Flamingos. This is the tale of a wonderful bird, named by his creator phoenicopteris ruber plasticus; a new avian species, now known to all as “Pink Plastic Flamingo.”

“. . . If you’re a believer, or even a skeptic, take a look, see for yourself. This book is one of a kind, the documentation of American genius, homage to an icon, or, perhaps, a rare opportunity to observe a culturally tolerated symbol of taste gone awry. It’s great fun!”

Kitsch collectors should click this link for Pink Flamingos Gift Set (Running Press Mini Kits), for a pair of desktop mini flamingos with their own patch of lawn, and “a book celebrating America’s beloved bauble of bad taste as a symbol of kitschy fun in the sun.”

update (Feb. 24, 2008): In a Letter to the Editor in today’s Sunday Gazette (reprinted at Rotterdamny.info in Reply 1), Michael Iacobucci complains, as the headline explains, that “Tacky pink flamingos don’t fit in Stockade.” Mike is worried that “there seems to be a group of people who are out to change the Stockade ambience.” Mike, a former Schenectady County Legislator famous as the owner of the now-defunct, but quite tasteful, Mike’s Pizza Adobe restaurant, has played Lawrence the Indian in historic re-enactments. He would rather see Valentine’s Day celebrated with “standards, like hearts and flowers,” and maybe a singles’ dance. I wish I could tell whether he’s trying to be ironic. I’d like to think that Lawrence and typical modern Stockadians have a sense of humor.

after-words: Many Stockadians are unaware that their beloved statue of Lawrence the Indian “was originally a carving done by wood carver Samuel Anderson Robb about 1860 for William Demuth who was the leading cigar store Indian peddler. Demuth published a catalog of his wares and in 1872 Lawrence is listed as ‘No. 53 Indian Chief.’ In 1873, the J.L.Mott Iron Works purchased the design and listed him for $500 in their catalog of statuary. The Schenectady statue was purchased in 1887. There are others like him still extant in Tilton, New Hampshire; Barberton, Ohio; and Cusco, Peru.” See “Fargo, North Dakota: The Indian Statue,” put together by the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University [ed. note: sorry that link is broken];See this Queen City Survey weblog post from 2008 about Cininnati’s “Tecumsheh”; and Barberton High School’s retelling of the story in their tribute to Chief Hopocan, the local incarnation of No. 53 Indian Chief.) .

In addition to our Lawrence the Indian, the J.L. Mott Iron Works model “#53 Indian Chief” statuary has had quite a few identities; the names and legends include:

Chief Hopocan in New Portage Park, at the intersection of Norton Avenue and Wooster Road, in Barberton, Ohio.

Hiawatha [scroll down this webpost for discussion and photo] at the Forest Glen Annex to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dewitt Circle & Linden Lane, in the Washington DC suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland [not Bethesda, MD, as stated in the Queen City Surveyweblog]

The Indian chief that graced Fargo, North Dakota, is now defunct, as is one in Point Richmond, California. For more close-up photographs of Lawrence the Indian, see “Looking for Lawrence” at suns along the Mohawk.

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